《辛劳的蚂蚁》作者是____国作家____。

    You might think that “global warming” means nothing more than a rise in the world's temperature. But rising sea levels caused by it have resulted in the first evacuation (撤离) of an island nation, the citizens of Tuvalu will have to leave their homeland.

    During the 20th century, sea level rose 8~12 inches. As a result, Tuvalu has experienced lowland flooding of salt water that has polluted the country's drinking water.

    Paani Laupepa, a Tuvaluan government official, reported to the Earth Policy Institute that the nation suffered an unusually high number of fierce storms in the past ten years. Many scientists connect higher surface water temperatures resulting from global warming to greater and more damaging storms.

    Laupepa expressed dissatisfaction with the United States for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement calling for industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (排放), which are a main cause of global warming. “By refusing to sign the agreement, the US has effectively taken away the freedom of future generations of Tuvaluans to live where their forefathers have lived for thousands of years.” Laupepa told the BBC.

    Tuvalu has asked Australia and New Zealand to allow the gradual move of its people to both countries.

    Tuvalu is not the only country that is vulnerable (易受影响的) to rising sea levels. Maumoon Gayoon, president of the Maldives, told the United Nations that global warming has made his country of 311,000 an “endangered nation”.

阅读下列材料，回答问题：
       20世纪以来，卫星、飞船、航天飞机、宇宙空间站相继问世，我国是目前世界上能发射返回卫星的三个国家之一。1987年8月，中国返回式卫星上大在的水稻种子返回地面种植，培育出的水稻穗大粒多，亩产高大600kg，蛋白质含量增加了8%-20%，生长期平均缩短10天。

下图反映我国2009～2015年的宏观经济状况，为保持国内经济平稳、持续增长，政府可以采取的货币措施是（  ）

①提高存款准备金率，使投资扩张    ②中央银行在公共市场上购买政府债券

③适度降低税率      ④降低存贷款利率，拉动生产

联系语境，理解划线词语的含义。